French cluster organisation TENERRDIS, partner of the SMARTENERGY consortium, recently hosted GD Test, a SME from Italy specialised in civil engineering, geotechnics, geomechanics and environmental services. The exchange, on the topic of smart grids, took place between March and April 2021 for a total of 3 days.

The virtual exchange took place in the frame of the SMARTENERGY 'six pack series', four groups of online group exchanges dedicated to different energy related topics.

GD Test expressed interest in participating in the exchange in order to explore the state of the art and trends in the smart grid technology field, but also to learn more about technology development in the Auvergne Rhone Alpes region and the activities developed by the Tenerrdis cluster and their members.

The six half-day sessions were focused on the following issues, each including an online business-to-business opportunity:

• Thursday March 4th, 2021: Highlights on SmartGrids: presentation of the value chain, local context, etc.  
• Thursday March 11th, 2021: Smart grids as key elements of the French electricity system.
• Thursday March 18th, 2021: When Smart grids connect Smart buildings in Smart cities.
• Thursday March 25th, 2021: Storage for optimised SmartGrids.
• Thursday April 1st, 2021: Trends and innovative projects in Smart Grids
• Thursday April 8th, 2021: Meet Smart Grids innovators!

GD Test mainly benefited from a cultural enrichment on topics not normally addressed in everyday work, but of potential interest for starting new business areas; contact with other businesses and research centres. In particular, thanks to the relationship with Tenerrdis during the exchange, GD Test was able to get in touch with the INDURA innovation cluster, focusing on transport and energy infrastructures, hence very relevant to its field of activity.

The participants experienced a growth of transversal skills and the establishment of relations with other French businesses and innovation poles.

The exchange also resulted in concrete prospects for GD Test involvement in further EU R&D projects developed by the partners met through Tennerdis/INDURA

'The importance of exchanges is crucial in order to encourage the creation of groups of European companies that can enrich each other by cross-fertilising,' explained Taddeo Maria Fenoglio from GD Test.

GD Test appreciated the cross-sectoral approach (energy and digital technologies) proposed by SMARTENERGY through the ClusterXchange scheme, because a great variety of specialisations is today required to deal with the complexity of climate change in the sector of environmental services for urban and territorial management. Something that an isolated company is unlikely to be able to tackle successfully.

GD Test will take advantage of exchange opportunities to open up to the international scene, being part of a specific programme for cluster members as the ClusterXChange.

Participant: Taddeo Maria Fenoglio Host Country: France Host Organisation: TENERRDIS Cluster Area of Host Activity: Promotion and support of business innovation in energy technologies sector Visitor country: Italy Visiting Organisation: GD Test s.r.l Area of Visitor Activity: Civil, geotechnics/geomechanics and environmental monitoring Partnership managing/supporting exchange: SMARTENERGY